MEDOC For Mitsubishi

[Antipathy]

Julian,
Yes, you use the Verify command to check that the original program matches the one currently in the PLC. That is also the point at which you should be prompted for the password (this will ony happen if communications setting are already correct).

If Medoc reports differences do the following:
Copy (File-Copy) the project to a new name and open this newly created project. (You MUST do this because one of Medocs major irritations was the lack of a 'Save As' command.)

Goto the transfer menu and upload from the PLC (PLC>Medoc)

Save the program.

What you do now is up to you...

If your modifications are simple then you might want to just re-make them to the uploaded program and run with that.

If your modifications are extensive you could examine the running program against the original program (I would open a second copy of medoc simultaniously for this purpose), see what the differences are and make similar changes to your modified program.

NOTE: It may appear that two programs are very different but in fact aren't; A single network inserted early in the program can cause Medoc to report hundreds of difference.

Do I have to do this procedure for both program and comments?

I have only ever used the F- range of PLCs with Medoc and they don't support comment download. I'm not sure if any of Mitsubishi's PLC's do but I would imagine the method would be self evident.)

Finally, once you've got your program in and running, goto ladder edit mode (2-F2) press F8 and Medoc will be in monitor mode.

I hope this helps.
I'm going out now and I won't be able to check back until later tomorrow.
Good luck.

Anthony

 

[aguirRe]

If you want to compare two versions of the same PLC-program in MEDOC, you can use the print to file function for both versions and then compare the produced text files using 3rd party diff tools (e.g. Beyond Compare, http://www.scootersoftware.com ).

To make it easier, you can choose various printout (export) modes in MEDOC (version 2.31 and later) when the cursor is positioned in Print Listings. Press Alt-E until desired export mode is enabled and then print to file with Go as usual.

The different export modes omit e.g. step numbers to make it easier for the diff tools to resynch. Mode 2 is maybe the best for version control.

There is a PDF (unfortunately only in Swedish) describing this and other procedures here http://ds2.elc.beijer.se/web/webbfiles.nsf/0/2C4DAC08116EE8EFC125696600280170/$File/PI00055.pdf .

 

[defraj]

Thank you very much Anthony, really helpful your information.
Now I feel more confident about what I am doing.

I really appreciate it.

Best regards, Julian.

 

[defraj]

Thank you very much Aguirre, it is very good to know there are people in this media willing to help others.

Best regards, Julian.

 

[Thomas]

simple hints

This may be very basic for some, but I'll toss it out in the case that it may be of help to anyone. One of our techs wrote this set of quick hints:

MITSUBISHI MELSEC SOFTWARE HINTS

In order to monitor or transfer from a Mitsubishi PLC you must connect the red "Interface for Melsec FX & A" cable from the RS232 jack on the face of the processor (may be under a 1cm X 5cm brown cover)and Com Port 1 on your laptop with Melsec Medoc and/or GPP Windows loaded on it.

1. If the laptop you are using is running Win 98 or later
>Hold the F8 key while booting up (or S/D and "Restart in DOS").
>At the start menu select 5(Command Prompt Only).
>At C:\> type medoc. At C:\MEDOC> type medoc.

2. Melsec Medoc will start up and take you to the main menu.
>Move the cursor (using the arrow keys) to Start and hit "down" or "Enter"
>Select Open from this menu and a project list (if there is one) will be displayed.
>Use the up / down keys to highlight the project you need to look at. If there is no project for the PLC you need to look at go to #3.
>Hit enter to open your project: the top center of the screen should display your project and the 4th line down should read "Project opened".
>Hit up or escape until you are back to the main menu.
>Select the Edit menu; then Ladder; then Test.
>Line 4 will ask if you wish to "Start From the Beginning of the Program (Y/N)? Y" hit enter.
>Line 4 should read "No Errors Found" up / Esc until you are back at the main menu.

3. If you need to access a PLC with no project:
>From the Main menu select Start
>From the Start menu select New_Proj
>Hit Enter and Melsec will ask you to identify the PLC (A0J2H's can use GPP for Windows]). Move the cursor to the PLC and hit enter.
>Melsec will ask you to name your project -8 character limit. Type in the name and hit enter.
>After a slight pause the name will be displayed top center and line 4 will read "New Project Created". Hit up or Esc until you are back to the Main menu.
>Select Transfer; then PLC; at PLC>Medoc hit enter.
>Line 4 will ask "Are You Sure (Y/N)? Y" Y / Enter will transfer the program into the laptop, up / Esc until you are back at the Main menu.

4. Online monitoring:
>From the Main menu select Transfer
>From the Transfer menu select PLC
>From the PLC menu select Verify.
>Melsec will read the program from the PLC and compare it with what you have loaded. Melsec will display 3 error messages that you scroll through by hitting any key. After the 3rd message up / Esc until you are back at the main menu
>From the Main menu select Edit
>From the Edit menu select Ladder
>From the Ladder menu select Find.
>From the Find menu select I/O by hitting Enter.
>Line 4 will ask "Start From Beginning of Program (Y/N)? Y" hit Y or Enter.
>Type in the I/O you need to look at and keep hitting enter until the coil contact you need is highlighted then hit Esc.
>F2 gives you a cursor you can move around on the ladder and Alt+O puts you online with the PLC (Alt+O before F2 changes background color to black).
>F8 puts you in online monitoring mode and all you can do here is watch the bits change.

5. To change the I/O you're monitoring:
>Hit F8 to stop monitoring
>Use the cursor keys to move around in ladder, or hit F2 and then Alt+O to go offline.
>From the Find menu select I/O by hitting Enter then search for different I/O as above.

6. For the dedicated (dumb) few:
>Entering comments into Melsec is anything but straight forward.

6a. Names can be added by:
>From the Main menu select Edit
>From the Edit menu select Ladder
>From the Ladder menu select Name
>Now you can type in the I/O you want to name or X0 to get the cursor at the top of the list.
>Scroll the arrow to your I/O and hit Enter to highlight it, then type it in (Names are discrete and cannot be reused even for different devices [X, Y, L, T, etc.]).
>Esc back to the Edit menu

6b. Comments and Remarks can be added by:
>From the Edit menu select Name
>From the Name menu select Find
>From the Find menu select I/O
>Either type in the I/O you want to comment or hit F2 to go to the top of the list
>Scroll down until you find your I/O and hit Enter, this allows you to edit the I/O, Enter again allows you to edit the Name, Enter again allows you to edit the Comment, Enter again allows you to edit the Remark and Enter at this point gets you back to the cursor.
********

 

[defraj]

Re: simple hints

Thanks to all the people who helped me in this job. It was very helpful the information you gave me to complete my work.

I have another question though. When I finished testing the program in our customer site I saved the program in my laptop to have a backup copy of the final program. I could see in the menues of medoc there was an option called EPROM, I guess that is used to write the program in a EPROM in the PLC. Do you think it is necessary to do that? or it was just enough to upload the program in the PLC memory?
Please give me your recommendations, and if needed tell me how to do that procedure.

Regards, Julian.

 

[Antipathy]

Hi Julian,

I'm glad the info helped.

As for the EPROM command. I've always assumed it was for connecting Medoc to the Eprom writer module.
You can program an Eprom directly (as a PLC) just by having it plugged into the PLC and write enabled.
Years ago, we used to keep a copy of all programs on Eproms; but to this day, they are ALL still on the shelf collecting dust. Eventually, we took the view that the PLC's were very reliable and it was a very expensive way of backing up programs. So now we just make sure that all program data and related documents are archived onto zip disks... Much more cost effective.

Anthony

 

[defraj]

Thanks Anthony, according to what you wrote I decided to leave it that way. You are certainly right.

Regards, Julian.

 

[Alhassan]

Problem with QX611-1 CPU

Hello everybody, I have a problem with a Mitsubishi PLC, the CPU is QX611-1 and it is installed in a CNC machine, someone has removed the backup battery and after that the systems is freezed and can't be accessed anymore, the machine is a peace of junk right now, please help me to fix this problem.

I have found the GX Developer software and MEDOC to reprogram the PLC but the problem is I don't know it they are the required software to do the job, also I don't know what cable to use. I really appreciate your help.

Thanks.